How to Use cower in a Sentence

cower

verb
  • They aren’t taught to cower to the police or to be afraid of the police.
    Longreads, 10 July 2017
  • Most of the dead were killed cowering in basements when their homes collapsed upon them.
    Jerome Hansen, Jack Schermerhorn, Ralph Nelson and Ken McCormick, Detroit Free Press, 6 Apr. 2024
  • On each side, fearful rodeo clowns cower, while on the backside a silly chicken flaps its wings.
    Barbara Henry, sandiegouniontribune.com, 8 June 2017
  • Khan had told Londoners that terrorists cannot be allowed to win, and that the city would not cower.
    Anne Gearan, Washington Post, 9 June 2017
  • Innocent vanilla ice cream, cowering in a cup, is doused with scalding espresso.
    Leah Eskin, idahostatesman, 8 Aug. 2017
  • There’s nail-biting, furrowed brows, hunched shoulders cowering in corners.
    Holly Millea, Smithsonian, 29 July 2017
  • Money: My taste buds were cowering at the mere mention of ghost peppers, but the first bite of this burger was a sweet relief.
    Hannah Fry, Daily Pilot, 14 July 2017
  • During solar eclipses, when the sky briefly turns dark, dogs may cower, birds stop flying and grow quiet, and nocturnal creatures emerge.
    Mallory Moench, TIME, 7 Apr. 2024
  • The report describes the patient being flipped off his bed onto the floor in the middle of the night and cowering in a darkened corner of the room.
    Josh Kovner, courant.com, 7 Sep. 2017
  • But, as cats often are in new environments, Ruby was terrified and spent the first few days cowering in a corner.
    Laura Bruck, cleveland.com, 11 June 2017
  • With a gun pointed in his face, a Chevron gas station clerk cowers as a masked robber grabs a cash register drawer in a pre-dawn holdup in Dania Beach.
    Linda Trischitta, Sun-Sentinel.com, 4 Aug. 2017
  • Traffic police who once cowered at home for fear of assassination are stationed once again at intersections, wearing their summer white uniforms.
    Frederic Wehrey, The Atlantic, 1 July 2017
  • CEOs who expect the employees to be cowering, to use a memorable phrase, shouldn’t be afraid of Donald Trump’s tantrums.
    Jon Talton, The Seattle Times, 15 Aug. 2017
  • Most players would cower and shrink away from the limelight after such an event, but the former Southampton man used it to his advantage, motivating himself to be better.
    SI.com, 28 July 2017
  • In Jurassic Park, when the dinosaurs escaped their pens, humans became frail prey, cowering in toilets, whispering prayers under trucks.
    Simon Parkin, Ars Technica, 26 June 2017
  • Fay ran to his truck, where his dog cowered on the floor, and took off.
    Leah Sottile, SFChronicle.com, 8 June 2018
  • Back at the truck, Jahrig and I cower in the shade, drinking water.
    Christine Peterson, Outdoor Life, 23 Nov. 2020
  • Most of us think stressed dogs cower or tuck their tails.
    Cathy M. Rosenthal, San Antonio Express-News, 5 Jan. 2018
  • Yet the owner of the 40-year-old punk shop The Alley isn’t cowering.
    Corilyn Shropshire, chicagotribune.com, 24 Apr. 2018
  • Nights are for cowering in the cold and rain while clinging to steely straight basalt cliffs.
    Craig Welch, National Geographic, 28 Mar. 2019
  • Faced with this kind of abuse, many people would cower.
    Lauren Collins, The New Yorker, 12 June 2023
  • As neighbors cowered in their homes, one of the Maoists ran a blade across Megh’s throat and severed his head.
    Sean Williams, Harper's Magazine, 11 Sep. 2023
  • Biden will be the one to determine whether Democrats spend the next two decades cowering in fear of what the Supreme Court might do.
    Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 6 Oct. 2023
  • Passengers scream and cower in their seats as the two men roll into the tiny aisle, fighting to the death.
    Jen Spyra, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2021
  • But rather than cower in fear, there’s a confident air about each of them.
    Jenna Wang, Peoplemag, 24 Feb. 2024
  • Others see the same unleashed dog and their instinct is to cower in fear or run away.
    Logan Jenkins, sandiegouniontribune.com, 20 Oct. 2017
  • The camera sticks with Ivy, who runs and cowers behind a fountain as shots ring out.
    Kat Rosenfield, PEOPLE.com, 11 Oct. 2017
  • There’s the sound of gunfire truly worthy of a war zone as people scream and run and cower, with nowhere to go.
    Rich Lowry, National Review, 3 Oct. 2017
  • There are hardcore Bengals fans who pace around the living room and scream at the TV in a way that makes pets cower in the closet.
    Rasputin Todd, The Enquirer, 12 Jan. 2024
  • In the end, Gunman saves its real judgment for the men who cowered in her shadow.
    Sara Holdren, Vulture, 13 Oct. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cower.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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